A Long Time Ago
by that-sexy-genius
Summary: Whilst on a supply raid in her hometown, Zombie Hunter Rose Hathaway finds herself haunted by the faces of her past. Zombie AU. One-shot.


"It's not him," Rose had to remind herself as she swung the bat at the zombie's face.

When Rose Hathaway heard they were heading to her hometown to scavenge for supplies, she knew she'd have to face familiar people she had once known- no, not people, shells f what those people were. On the outside she was still the same beautiful, sarcastic bad-ass everybody knew so well. But on the inside, well, that was a different matter completely. She was terrified, no, not of the zombies of course. She was terrified she'd have to face _him_.

It was hard enough seeing her friends as mindless undead corpses though. Even harder trying to smash their heads in, but desperate times call for desperate measures and if being trapped inside a building of the undead who were all trying to eat her wasn't desperate enough, she didn't know what was,

_Sorry, Jesse, _The thought ran though her head as the bat his it's mark and what was left of Jesse's head came clean off his shoulders.

She ran past, the bag on her shoulder weighing her down, full to the brim with hastily shoved cans. Her shoulder stung, but she was 98% sure it wasn't thanks to one of the undead trying to use her as a chew toy. It was her leg that worried her though; a sharp jolt in her thigh caused her to limp as she ran, but as far as she could see, no bite.

She caught sight of her friend Christian, wielding a flamethrower in an attempt to get away from a cluster of zombies. There was a hint of maniac in his eyes, like blue fire themselves as he burnt down the corpses but Rose pushed away the thought.

"Ozera!" She called as Christian looked at her, "I think they're done cooking,"

The pale boy grinned back at her as he shut off the flamethrower, "Took your time, Hathaway. I was starting to think you'd been eaten,"

"And leave you all by your lonesome?" She grinned back, "I couldn't do that; you'd get scared,"

He flipped me off as a fresh wave of zombies erupted through the hall's double doors. Rose recognised the place as her old school auditorium.

With her trusty baseball bat poised, she fell upon the zombies with a fury reserved for the undead. Soon enough, there were only the two of them left standing with corpses lying on the scuffed wooden floor, some still smoking and slightly charred.

"Think that's all of them?" Rose asked as she turned towards Christian, swinging the bat over her uninjured shoulder.

"Yeah, I reckon," Christian ran a hand through his dark hair, surveying the room, "Grab the cans and lets head back to base,"

"Christian," He turned at the sharp tone, "Why is your arm bleeding?"

He paled even more, pulling back the red-stained sleeve and stared at his left arm. Rose walked towards him and sure enough, there, right below the elbow was the distinct mark of a zombie bite. Blood was already pooling in the teeth mark and the veins closest to the bite had turned a nasty shade of inky-black. Rose's eyes widened while Christian stood still. Time passed as neither of them did anything.

"It's fine, right?" He whirled around so fast Rose was startled and stumbled back a few steps, "We can do something. There is something we can do. Tell me there's something we can do!"

There was an edge of hysteria in his voice and Rose hesitated a few seconds, before replying, "I don't know,"

"No! There's something! There has to be!" He stared down at his arm, the blood a bright red against his pale skin, "We can cut if off,"

"Are you crazy?" Rose spluttered and smacked him on the shoulder, "Don't be stupid! We'll go back to base. If you're lucky, they'll have a syringe or two left of the antidote,"

Neither of them mentioned what would happen if there wasn't any cure left.

"We should get a bandage over that," Rose gestured to the bite, "Can't have you bleeding all over the place,"

"I dropped the medical kit in the library," His voice was horse and his eyes stared at the ground.

Rose grimaced, "I'll get it. Don't… move,"

"I'm not going anywhere," He replied sullenly as she grabbed the handgun from his discarded bag tucking it into her waistband along with her trusty bat in her hand.

She wanted to say something to reassure him but nothing came to mind. Rose gave up, leaving the hall through one of the side doors. That led her directly to the abandoned staffroom. It hadn't been the greatest before the outbreak but now it was downright _nasty_. Chairs upturned, walls stained with red, corpses littering the floor; Rose had to hold her breath as she looked around, thanks to the smell.

If she remembered right, the staffroom would have a door that lead into a hallway, which at the end she would find the library. And yes, there it was, adorned with claw marks as if someone had used their fingernails to gouge out the wood. She shuddered.

Baseball bat raised she placed a hand on the doorknob, slowly turning it. The door opened with a loud creak at which she winced. Surveying the hallway, she stepped inside, deeming it safe. Catching sight of herself in the window, she winced once again as she took in the dark bags underneath her eyes, the newly forming bruise on her cheek and the cut-up lip. Her dark hair, previously her pride and joy was flat and lifeless. Zombie apocalypses did wonders for the appearance, if you were going for the undead look.

Behind the door leading to the library, she could see a moving figure and readied her bat. Waiting for a few seconds, she flung the door open and stepped into the library, where someone stared back at her.

"Dimitri,' She breather out and the figure in front of her cocked his as if recognising his own name.

Before he'd …turned, he had been immaculate, tall, insanely tall in his cowboy duster. His dark hair was kept in a small ponytail at the nape of his neck. Usually he would be staring at her with amusement in his eyes, as he sighed, "Roza,"

There was no amusement in his eyes now. They were cold… hungry, even. Clumps of his hair were missing from his head and the rest was left wild and untamed. He was still wearing the cowboy duster, but it was drenched in red and torn in some places.

His mouth contorted into a grimace as he took a few steps forward. Rose stood, frozen, unable to defend herself, run, do _anything_.

_They are not human,_ The training instructors words echoed in her head,_They are not the people you once knew. They are _monsters_._

She squeezed her eyes shut, took a breath and swung the bat high. There was a grunt as she hit him, but she swung yet again. Hands latched around it and the bat was torn from her grip, torn away and left discarded in the corner.

A hand curled around her neck and she was lifted off the ground, nails digging into her exposed throat. She clawed at the hand, _his_ hand, but nothing happened. Black spots were beginning to dance I front of her eyes and Rose was starting to fell light-headed slightly. In a wild panic, she kicked out and must've hit something because the hand withdrew from her throat and she dropped to the ground in a crumpled heap, gasping for breath. She pushed herself up, off the floor and onto her feet, swaying unsteadily.

Rose pulled out her handgun and aimed.

She hesitated.

Back in the hall, she was helping bandage Christian's arm up. By now, the colour had returned to his face and he looked better, though the inky-blackness of the veins in his arm had started to spread.

"Were there any zombies?" He asked.

She thought about lying, but gave up on the thought, "Yeah, there was one but he got away,"

"Oh," Christian looked surprised, "Anyone you knew?"

She froze, swallowing the lump in her throat, "Once. A long time ago,"

- _Fin._

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Hope you enjoyed!


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